Monday, May 14, 2018

An answer for Mark Shea

Yes, Mark, he was likely concerned, even if he didn't feel threatened.

Mark Shea, in typical form, grabbed onto this story:

Here is the story. Now, I won't get into the case itself. I have no clue what happened. I'm still old-fashioned enough to believe that we hear from all sides, and seek evidence, before rendering a verdict. If they investigate and find out he was in the wrong, he should be disciplined. I'm OK with that. If he feels he was wrongly suspended, let's see what happens. I'm OK with that. Call me silly and stupid and a white racist Nazi sexist, but I still find comfort in a society that values presumption of innocence, due process, the need for evidence, hearing all sides of a story, and basic justice for all.

No, I'll touch on Mark's quips based on something I've learned as one of my sons trains for work as a police officer (instead of going to school to be an accountant). I didn't know this, but according to the officers who are training him, traffic stops are the most unnerving thing you do.

Why? Because you have no clue what you're getting into, that's why. Unlike anything else, it is a blank slate. As the officers training him explained, when you get called to do almost anything else you have an idea what you're getting into. Bank robbery? Domestic troubles? Guarding the stadium on game day? Entertaining a birthday party? Terrorist attack? You know what you're up against and you prepare accordingly.

But traffic stops are the worst of all worlds. Often you are on your own, alone, and away from backup. You have no clue who is in the car or what is happening. It could be a woman in labor, a teenager with a new license, an elderly man, a drug smuggler, an arms dealer, a fugitive, a serial murderer, or someone looking for pancakes house. It could be a 65 old grandmother with diabetes. Or it could be a 65 year old grandmother with diabetes who has her 24 year old armed fugitive son in the back seat. You don't know. And you have no way of knowing until you arrive at the side of the car. That, apparently, is the most unnerving moment of any cop's day: That point right before you arrive at the side of the car during a traffic stop. Which is why they have exact procedures for how the cops are to approach the car, all aimed at their safety. Ultimately, you have only the driver's cooperation and good will to hope for.

Even then you don't know, since anything can happen. Just because a person seems normal, calm, rational, or harmless, doesn't mean they don't have a .45 sitting under the seat. It doesn't mean that they're not up to something. Criminals come in all shapes and sizes and behaviors. Sometimes they're not criminals. Sometimes they're just people who lose control, just as cops can lose control. You don't know.

But guess what? A funny thing about those cops? They're actually human beings. I realize the Left has done a bang up job with the whole 'Sanctity of life stops dead when it no longer benefits the Left' shtick. But a consistent life ethic means consistency. It doesn't just mean 'Life is beautiful ... whenever the Left says so'. People should, you know, listen to the police officer, and do what he says. Duh. And that includes not assuming he's a psychoNazi racist murderer who deserves no respect, who can be ignored in kind, and had best let Greedo shoot first before he responds.

In a sane world of morals, principles, values, truth, common sense, justice, and civility founded on the Judeo-Christian ethic, the person does what my Dad did when he was mistaken for a fugitive years ago: comply with the cops. Even though they swarmed his car, guns out, yelling for him to keep his hands visible, he decided to go crazy and ... do what they said. Know what happened then? They checked, found out he was the wrong person, apologized, my Dad said they were just doing their job, he drove on to work, they continued their search, and that was it! Wow. It's like crazy decent and sensible. Heck, it's almost respectful! Thank goodness we're done with that era. Can't have any of that in a Leftist paradise.

So Mark, the answer to your question is yes. If that officer had any brains, he was worried. Perhaps he felt threatened. Perhaps he overreacted. Real people in the real world get it. I fear we've created a generation of armchair messiahs who can't help but ponder how others can be so weak and flawed and imperfect.

Oh, and I get why a demographic told daily that their country hates them and wants them dead would be nervous, too. None of this is to ignore the travesty of the Left's manipulation and exploitation of the African American community that has no doubt left many blacks in America quite shaken. It's just a perspective from a parent who can't help but wish accounting was in his son's future, rather than police work in the age of:

Then there was the time an activist went through police trials. (Actually you can find a wealth of videos on youtube if you search "activist goes through police training.") I'd love to watch Shea try some of that.

I know how Mark would respond, I've seen him do it. Just like he does with any 'gun cult', 'Christianit', or 'Thug Cop' string. He insists he's not saying they're all like that, or that there aren't good cops. And, of course, the press doesn't either. They have their occasional 'cop saves baby' stories to talk about how this or that cop did well. But when something happens, they portray it as if it's a daily occurrence in every town and city in America. Which is generally what Mark does, have one or two positive posts in a given year, but then seize upon anything negative with way he did above.

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Dave Griffey

Welcome

This is a little blog of mine, just to kick around what I see going on in the world outside my window. Though primarily a blog looking at the world through Christian colored lenses, I'll touch on anything and everything, from culture and news to reflections on my own pilgrimage through the Christian Faith, to family and fun, history, vacations, movies, pets, cooking, delivery truck driving, you name it.

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